While many factors need to be considered, the author argues that broader social and economic forces such as poverty, inequality, and social exclusion shape most of the problem of youth violence. These structural factors tend to foster violence indirectly through their impact on the institutions of family, school, and community. Using the organizing concepts of social support and informal social control, the author examines theory and research on the connections between economic inequality and social exclusion, family and community institutions, and violent youth crime. He argues that structural forces reduce the ability of families and communities to provide the social support and informal social control needed to prevent youth violence. Policy implications are briefly discussed. 35 references